Ad from Georgia Power Company,
"A New Name That Brings New Forces To Work For Georgia"
From Five Hundred Representative Public Utility Advertisements, 1928
Public Utilities Advertising Association

The print reads:

"As names, but as names only, the following companies have ceased to exist:

• Athens Railway and Electric Company
• Georgia Railway and Electric Company
• Georgia Railway and Power Company
• East Georgia Power Company
• Rome Railway and Light Company
• Athens Gas, Light and Fuel Company
• Georgia Southern Power Company
• Georgia Utilities Company
• Milledgeville Lighting Company

"The gigantic program so essential to the prosperity of Georgia, in which these companies have been engaged, will continue in increased measure under the name of

"Georgia Power Company"

"The Macon Railway and Light Company, the Macon Gas Company, the Central Georgia Power Company, and the Mutual Light & Water Company of Brunswick, are now subsidiary organizations of the Georgia Power Company, but will continue operation under the names by which they have been known in the past.

"The Georgia Power Company brings under one management practically all the properties in Georgia controlled by the Southeastern Power and Light Company, and by so doing co-ordinates all the power forces, formerly isolated, into one vast system that performs its benefits with equal force for every community served, large or small.

"As the press and business leaders have repeatedly pointed out -- this consolidation means greater service to every community; it means that dependable, constant electric power will be available to sections previously without electric service; it means a closer union between Georgia's various sections -- it means a vast stride toward the day when everyone will have the same supply of electric energy formerly available to only the largest centers.

"In brief, the consolidation of these forces starts Georgia on a new industrial era, for now, as never before, any one of more than 180 communities may offer industry an abundant supply of dependable hydro-electric energy.

"Ten millions of dollars of new capital will be required each year for improvement and expansion of the company's services -- a great store of outside capital coming into the state each year to help build on Georgia's firm foundation of natural resources, climate, labor and transportation."

     The modern era of restructuring has been marked by a wave of utility mergers on a scale unseen in more than a half-century. The rational remains much the same, however. Consolidation creates larger pools of capital and customers, promoting economies of scale and improving competitive positions.

     The ad also cites the need in industry of cheap, plentiful electricity; another factor which is playing a large role in today's restructuring debates.